Thieves and Flashforwards
by ICECREAMROCKS don't dis me
Summary: Sequel to Kidnappers and Flashbacks. Now Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, Nico and everyone else are well-professional thieves known across Athens for their awesomeness. But Annabeth decides to visit the kingdom one last time, and everything goes TOTALLY wrong from there. Read Kidnappers and Flashbacks before reading this. AU
1. Of weddings, rock games and dogs

**A/N SEQUELLLLLLLLL! Sorry it's been so long, but I was banned from the computer for two weeks. Mum overeactes, its stupid. Anyway, I'm back, pumped and feeling weird.**

**Why? No idea.**

**Also, thanks to ClashOfTheElements for helping me with the name. Yay *party streamers* *cake* *balloons* *music* Okay, anyway. Le first chappie. **

* * *

Thalia

point of view

" - take this complete d-"

"LANGUAGE, Valdez," Hazel scolded. She stood up out of Frank's arms and picked up a stick and smacked Leo's bottom with it, like a teacher. "Every time you say a rude word I will hit you."

Leo looked at Frank imploringly. "Your girlfriend wants to kill me," he whimpered.

"You hold his arms and I'll impale him," I told Hazel, smirking.

Leo screamed the girliest scream you could ever get out a boy and started running out the cave before Annabeth stuck out her foot and he went flying. Sailing through the air like a bird. Or a kite. Or that piece of bread when Annie and Percy were throwing food at each other before they fell in love - STUPID ADHD!

Leo's head cracked against the wall.

"Ahem," Annabeth said, and then she turned to Percy who was playing rocks with Nico, Travis and Connor. 'Rocks' was the new game where all the rocks were little people. I got the ugliest, most deformed one and named it Nico. Annabeth took a big lumpy one and called it Athena. A rock that looked like two stuck together Piper called Percabeth. Let's just say she almost joined Jason.

"Not you too, Seaweed Brain!"

" - and then I say to Thalia, hey, ugly, do you wanna get your head cut up, and she's like, hell yeah, and - "

I pounced and _Connor_ screamed this time.

Piper rolled her eyes and stood up. "This is the most important thing that has ever happened and you are fighting over rocks!"

I pointed at Percy, who was looking all innocent, like a little kid would when they would deny that they ate all the food but had it all over their face. "He started it! He was acting like a right old gossip!'

Percy looked defensive. "You were the one who almost killed Leo a day ago!"

"I had a good reason!"

"EHEM!" Leo yelled, and we all went silent and looked at him like, seriously dude? He said, "I needed to clear my throat, that's all. Now, on with it. Percy, stand up and stop acting like a weirdo, even though it does seem like a good game, you know, and - "

"LEO!" [Piper].

"Right, I'm sorry! Geez woman, hold it. Cool, everyone ready? Anyway, do you take this insane doof to be your cavely wedded dude?"

Annabeth snorted and doubled over with laughter, but she flashed a quick thumbs up before she went into hysterics.

"And, uh, Perce?"

"Dude, do you think I'd say no?"

"Maybe?"

Annabeth had to hold onto Percy to keep herself upright, and accidentally pulled him down on top of her. They both realized where they were and flushed beet red and tried to stand up. But then Annabeth rolled her eyes and grabbed his collar and kissed him."

"You may kiss the - " Leo announced all manly, but then noticed Percy and Annabeth already doing so. "Uh, carry on with whatever you were doing."

That was a wedding, if you didn't know. Percy and Annabeth's wedding. A cave wedding. Our way of doing weddings, anyway. Leo was the vicar and all of us were just chilling whilst we watched the totally-not-royal wedding going on, adding in every now and then. But Annabeth practically isn't royal anymore. Athena basically disowned her in front of the whole of Athens, and Annabeth was the least princessy-princess you could ever imagine.

And it wasn't just Annabeth that had changed. We all had, really. Especially Hazel and Piper.

Piper had cut her waist-length brown hair that was always coiled up in buns so it was up to her shoulders, and was raggedly torn off with a sharp rock. Also, she had braided little bits of her hair, and she looked so different from the Piper we had taken - ahem, given a holiday.

We found out a lot of weird things about her. Travis did another family tree and we traced her back to the Cherokees. Leo was in hysterics for days.

Confession time: WE WERE ALL THIEVES NOW.

Oh yeah, thievery was like our job. Piper was the 'Charmspeaking Mystery' as everyone who wasn't us called her, because she was so persuasive and could easily talk a stall-holder into giving her stuff.

Hazel, we found, was strangely good at knowing if there was a jewel or piece of metal under the ground she was standing on. So whenever we stole something, we would leave a little piece of Celestial bronze where it had originally been, as like a mark. It was hilarious.

Annabeth was pretty good at moving fast, so she was usually paired up with me, where we'd ransack the attic of the bakery and nab a few apples every here and there. By now, Annabeth's hair had stopped looking like it was curled professionally and was naturally bouncy and curly. I saw Percy melt whenever he saw her.

Lovesick idiot.

But now they were married, so that was a joy. I really hoped Annie just didn't get taken away, or Percy would be mooching around miserably his whole life, like a pining wimp. Ditto Annabeth.

" - and then I saw to Percabeth, girlfriend, you look hot, and then she says, dude, I wanna marry you and then we - "

And then there was Nico.

" - so then I say, dude, stop with the - EWWWWW! PLEASE, STOP WITH THE PDA ALREADY!"

Percy and Annabeth were still kissing. Lovely.

"Nico, take a deep breath through the nose," Leo said, and I looked down to see him sitting cross-legged but with his legs all twined together and his forefinger and thumb touching, like a Meditating Position. "And then exhale calmly. Think of yourself on a beach, and imagine all the waves..."

"Since when did you become Mr Smooth?" I demanded.

Leo smirked. "I've always had it in me, girlfriend."

Piper smacked him.

Travis shuddered and said, "Right, that's it." He marched over to Percy and yelled, "BLUE PANCAKES!" and instantly Percy and Annabeth broke apart, and Percy sat up straight like he was trying to be a dog.

Wait, no. He was trying to be a dog.

"Woof woof!" he said. "Where?"

I slammed my head against the wall as all the boys did the same thing.

Life is so not fair where males are concerned.

* * *

**A/N And first chapter in the bag and complete! OH YEAH! Celebrate! Yippee! Review please!**

**Right, I need medication. :)**


	2. Of scramming and kissing

**A/N Annnnnd posting again on this lovely day of awesomeness! Joy! Yay! Woot! Yippee! Lets throw a party!**

**Naw, just kidding. But you can if you want. But that would be a bit OTT. You know? Anyway, here is the next chapter of TAF. That sounds like... taffee. Which isn't a word, according to my laptop. But if you've read KFC you know that I MAKE UP A LOT OF WORDS!**

**So Taffee it is!**

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

A few days after the unceremonial **(A/N NEW WORD!)** marriage of Percy and I, we went on a food spree. All of us. I was paired up with Thalia, while Hazel was with Leo and Frank, the Stolls by themselves and Percy and Nico came along with me and Pinecone Face. I never let that nickname drop. She is a Pinecone face at heart.

"Too true," Nico said. Wait, I said that aloud?

Percy smirked and picked up his sack. I rolled my eyes and shoved him. He shoved me back. Thalia shoved Nico in between us and he got sandwiched. Thalia became hysterical and cackled. Nico looked dazed, and then narrowed his eyes and pounced on Thalia.

I stepped backwards. I learnt that cousin spats were for the Big Three cousins only.

Percy tried to break them apart, and picked up one of Nico's rocks (Patrick, I think) and banged Nico's head with it. Nico looked stunned but then took Percy in a headlock at the same time as Thalia. Let's just say it looked pretty wrong.

But that didn't last long. Thalia kneed her cousin in the groin and he let go and hopped around., clutching the area of abuse. I snorted.

"Pain is not funny!" Nico complained.

"It is when it's you," Thalia said.

"Huh?"

"_You're_ a pain."

Here me and Thals burst out laughing and had to hold on to each other for support. But Percy looked confused. "Whoa, hold it. When Nico's a pain he's plain ANNOYING. Do you know what he did when I went to far in his Comfort Zone or whatever? He shaved off my eyebrow!"

"You looked so wierd," I said.

"Is that what you say to your hot husband?" Percy asked, batting his eyelids.

"Oh, shut up," I said, grinning. "And I would kiss you right now but - " I looked at Thalia and Nico, who were already covering their eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, let's get going," Percy said, but he made it a point to kiss my forehead in front of his cousin. Thalia rolled her eyes, grabbed her bow and her sack, and started running and doing cartwheels through the forest. I followed, with Nico on my heels and Percy scampering after like a little dog.

We came to the village and I covered up my blonde curls with my hood. Queen Athena may have hated my guts, but she still kept everyone looking for me. I was NOT going home after just getting married.

Thalia pushed Percy and Nico away. "Scram, you two. This is girl stuff from here on."

They ran, but not before Percy kissed Annabeth on the mouth. I squirmed. "I told you to scram, Jackson, not kiss."

He left pretty quick.

I turned to Annabeth. "Ready?"

* * *

**A/N That was stupidly short, but I needed to post another because i was just SO DESPERATE. Also, I'm gonna be MIA for a week. **

**Uh...**


	3. Of elephants and doughnuts

**A/N I just wrote the most depressing one-shot I've ever written. It's a bit weird, to be honest.**

**But GOOD NEWS! I've realized that taffee isn't a word, but taffy is! Actually, if you read that aloud, taht sounds exactly the same. NOOOOOO! That isn't a bad thing. At all. But yay! So this story is offically called Taffy.**

**My friend's cat's called Taffee, actually...**

**Anyway, the people who were so kind to review: **_emmiem01, Candyfudge _**(that same is so awesome)**_, Spock, Percabethbmylife, Fruitqueen, TheKookieKing11, SetFireToTheRainbow, crazydasiy-in-tha-house, Insert cool PJO name here, Thalia2275 _**who turned out to be the mystery **_percabeth2275__, Guest, Yellow di Viridian Grove, ClashOfTheElements _**and**_ Oatmeal n Nuts._

**That is a lot of reviewers for two chapters.**

**I feel so loved :)**

* * *

Thalia

point of view

Annabeth nodded, and we went out into the village. It was full of people joustling around, yelling, "FRESH FISH!" or, "APPLES!" or, "COME GET YOUR DRESSES, LADIES!" and things like that. I squeezed in between two people and found myself jammed in a conveyor belt of peasants. Annabeth was shoved against me and we both went sprawling in front of a stall.

"My head," she mumbled.

"Don't people have more respect?" I asked, standing up and brushing myself down. "Unbelievable, really. They don't give a fig about us, oh no. They're just too busy selling the rotten things."

"What would happen if you bumped into your Mom right now?" Annabeth asked, joining me up.

"I'd probably give her a right old kick, the old bag," I said, and spat on the ground to prove my point. "Putrid pig. She ain't care about me, just felt like selling me off like I was a piece of food, and then went and got jason lost, and me thrown in a stupid cell, saying I have had kids. Dunno how people even believed her."

"Hey, chill Thals," Annabeth told me. "You never know, she could've died ages ago."

"Good, I'm reassured. Let's go."

We weaved our way around, until we found a bakery. We went around the back and I hoisted Annie up on the roof, and I jumped up to join her. She started ripping a bit of her skirt off.

"What the heck are you doing?" I hissed.

"Distraction," she replied, not looking at me. Soon she had a length of dirty fabric, which she tied to a rock. Then she swung it - and it knocked on the door.

The baker, being a total dofus, opened it and peered around.

I wasted no time and scrambled in the open window. Annabeth shot me a q thumbs up.

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

Thalia disappeared through the window, and I sat on the bakery roof, looking up at the sky. I couldn't believe that a few months ago, I was living in the palace with servants and good meals and a ever-so-thoughtful (not) mother who decided to throw every suitor she got her hands on at me.

Now I was a well-known thief, working in a well-known gang of thieves, and was married to a thief, and my closest friends who had lived in the palace also were thieves.

Nothing was strange about that.

I loved my new life. It was amazing.

Especially with Percy...

"Oi, dream girl, snap out of it." It was Thalia. She had come back with two loaves of bread. She strapped them to her back with a few ropes, which looked ridiculous and made her look like a hunchback, and was looking at me with her big, electric blue eyes.

"I've stopped," I said, scrambling down the wall with Thalia above me.

"Noticed," she called down.

I laughed and took a step forward before my hood caught on a hook and it fell down, revealing my blonde curly hair and grey eyes. I stood, frozen. Even if I did lift up my hood, it wouldn't really make a difference.

The entire village stared at me.

* * *

Thalia

point of view **(A/N I'm kinda just switching between the two - it's fun)**

We stopped, rooted to the spot. Now we had revealed that Annabeth was here, in this very village, with a dangerous criminal (courtesy of _moi_) by her side, jsut staring.

We were doing very well at escaping, weren't we?

I would've run, except my legs were marshmallows. I hated to think what Annabeth's were like. They must have been liquidized cheese by now.

"The princess!" one villager shouted. "She's come back!"

"With Thalia Grace!" another shouted. "She's come to hand her in and return to the kingdom!"

"No, stop!" A woman with brown hair in a bandanna and multi-coloured eyes jumped in front. Sally Jackson, Percy's mom. She was like my Mom, too, as well as just about everyone else's. She particularly loved Hazel. They had long long talks about diamonds and jewels and whatnot. Like, what was so interesting about them? "My friends, you must be mistaken! This isn't the princess! It could be... an imposter!" She gasped. "What if it is?" She grabbed a man next to her. "You are putting yourselves in danger!"

"Mommy?" Locksey, Percy's little sister asked. "Are you alright?"

Then she caught sight of Annabeth. "Annie! Thawia!" She jumped into my arms. "Whewe are you going, Thawia? Annabeff, are you going wiff her?"

Locksey may be a tiny little cutie, but she can be damn annoying sometimes. Like now.

"That _is_ Princess Annabeth!" a fat man shouted. "She's come back!"

"What?" Annabeth cried. "No!" But it was too late. The people had already started dragging her along. Then suddenly her eyes widened, and she turned and faced me and shouted, "Bad Elephants Deserve Really Only One Donut Whilst Inking Nerdy Drawings Over Walls!" over the top of all the shouting.

I stood there, stock still, my eyes popping out my sockets. What the heck did elephants drawing nerdy pictures all over the wall even have to do with her getting taken away? Then I blinked and pulled out my dagger. I wasn't particularly good at sword work but I was okay.

I jumped in and hacked away, but a tough man batted me away. I landed on my bottom, my mouth wide.

Percy was literally going to kill me when he found out that his wife had been taken away and my only piece of information was about bad elephants.

I really should get writing my eulogy.

* * *

**A/N How's that? I liked writing it, it was fun. Only difficult part was the Bad Elephants Deserve Really Only One Donut Whilst Inking Nerdy Drawings Over Walls part. It means something.**

**You gotta figure out what!**

**Anyway, review :)**


	4. Of guard butt and code cracking

**A/N Hey, I am SO SO SO SO SORRY for not updating. I got banned, see - again. So I'm writing this on an iPad, so blame all the bad spelling and grammar and whatnot on the autocorrect.**

**But here I am.**

**So yay.**

**Heh heh...**

**The next chapter of taffy! Woot!**

* * *

Percy

point of view

As soon as I saw Thalia barrelling back in the cave empty handed, looking seriously confused and shocked, by herself, I knew something was wrong.

"Where's Annabeth?" I demanded.

Thalia leant against the wall, panting,. "Taken" pant pant "saw she was princess" pant pant "Sally tried to defend her" pant pant "bad elephants". She collapsed heavily on the floor, still looking very confused. Then she said, " do any of you have an idea what Bad Elephants Deserve Really Only One Donut Whilst Inking Nerdy Drawings Over Walls have to do with getting taken away?"

"Knowing Annabeth, its all probably code," Nico said gloomily.

I kicked the wall. How come we had to have the worst lives? Those Fates wouldn't leave us alone. If there was a prize for rotten luck, we'd have already won.

"Here, write it on the wall," suggested Hazel, brushing her mane of curly hair out her face. "Maybe it would make more sense."

I bet the Fates were laughing their heads off. We all had dyslexia.

Here's how it went at everyone's attempts.

Connor: Badd Lfants

Travis: D-surf

Me: reely onnli

Thalia: wwun doenutt

Nico: wiles ikking

Leo: nnerdde drawinks

Hazel: ovva wals

So you can get them basic idea.

But then Frank studied it and shook his head. "That isn't exactly how you spell it. See, you write elephant like this" - he wrote some wacky word on the wall - "and then you - "

"Whoa, dude," I said. "Elephant doesn't have a 'p' in it. That would spell... Elepant. "

"That's the correct spelling," Frank said. "I'm not dyslexic, I should know. Now, if it IS code, it must have something to do with the letters."

"I know," said Nico. "Let's go from the end to the beginning. See if they all work out."

We went through every single word, swapping and switching letters like our lives depended on it (well, kinda - she was my freaking WIFE), until we got to the beginning. Frank copied the first letters on the board, and it read:

BEDROOD WINDOW

Leo collapsed. "So. That wasn't a code. Annie's smart. What now?"

"Wait, hold on," said Frank. "That says bedroom window."

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, that's a d, not an m," Thalia said. She looked at me. "Sorry, Perce."

"Annabeth could've got something wrong," Frank said. "It's only one letter."

"A few more, actually," Leo said. "There needs to be a u instead of two o's. Otherwise its bedROM window, and its meant to be bedrum window."

Frank facepalmed.

Piper turned her looking glass blade Katropis in her hands. "It doesn't matter. But if it DOES mean bedroom window, I'm guessing that she wants us there. We've got to help before Percy starts mooning around like a heartsick ghost."

"I'm not like that!" I said indignantly.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Piper said. Then she turns her head and faced everyone, one of her braids hitting my face. "Whose ready to kick some guard butt?"

* * *

**A/N I liked writing this. Remember, any spelling mistakes: BLAME AUTOCORRECT!**

**Review?**


	5. Of dresses and make up

**A/N Hello! I'm back! Woo! I read over my last chapter and realized, God, that was a stupid chapter. So short.**

**But you don't UNDERSTAND! It takes me about half an hour to write something as short as that on the iPad, so really, give me a break.**

**But thanks for all the feedback and reviews - I feel la love! **

***coughs* Ahem.**

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

You would think that being back in the castle as a princess after two years of no tight dresses and no brushing hair and no itchy shoes would be wonderful.

You thought WRONG.

I loved not having to brush my hair. I loved not having to wear tight dresses. I loved not wearing itchy shoes. Running around in trousers or ripped, loose skirts was awesome, and having my hair a wild mane of blonde and curls? Besides, j usually scraped it back in a pony tail.

Oh yeah, another bright side. NO COMPLICATED HAIRSTYLES. No braided crowns or braided chignons or having it curled to perfection. I WAS FREE.

And you would think that after all my hints, the kingdom would show some respect and leave me be. Hell, no.

As soon as I was brought in the castle, scratched, scuffed, bruised, dirty but feeling amazing, Queen Athena instantly stopped talking to the servant she was scolding and ran up to me. She didn't hug me, but she gripped my shoulders and peered into my eyes.

"Oh, Annabeth!" she cried. "My baby girl! I thought you had died! I am so happy to see you!"

I would rather die than be here.

I squirmed uncomfortably. "Uh, hi. Mom."

"Hi?" Queen Athena sounded incredulous. "My dear, princesses do not say hi. They say 'hello' and curtsey."

I really hadn't missed this place.

"Now!" Athena clapped her hands and all the servants gathered around. "I would llike to welcome back my beautiful daughter. The celebration parade will be held tonight, so I need Annabeth's hair, clothes and face" - she looked disdainfully at my ripped skirt, muddy face and long, tangled hair that had grown up to my lower back - "so she may look like a princess once more!"

_Nooooooooo_.

I got hauled to a dressing rroom, and at once, the dress designer, hair dresser and basically everyone else pounced. Someone stripped off my clothes and threw me in a bathtub, where they scrubbed fiercely at my hair with soap until it felt like it was going to call out. Then they dried it and tied it up with a towel.

Then they started dabbing at my face to get off all the dirt, and applied makeup galore. I couldn't remember what it felt like, and I wriggled as they rubbed it in.

Next: the dress.

The dressmaker made me stand up and laced me in a corset so tight I could barely breathe, and then took out a measuring tape and measured my hips and waist and chest. I had grown skinnier yet stronger in my two years, so my dresses were now pretty big, so they started a new one.

Grey.

Big.

Frilly.

Princessy.

They shoved me in that and then laced it up. Finally, they tugged my hair out the towel and brushed it so hard I was sure I wouldn't be able to tangle it for weeks. Braiding and pulling and taking and tugging and "Keep still!"ing followed as they braided my hair.

WHY?

I turned and faced the mirror and gasped. No WAY was that me. The girl had blonde hair into braids pinned at the back of my head, with a grey princess dress, and grey eyeliner around her grey eyes to make them pop.

Add that on to the fact that I had streaks of grey running down my cheeks as I thought of the cave with everyone in it. Even Jason seemed to be there. Piper kept getting dreams, see, of Jason, with him talking to her. You often saw her chatting to thin air, but that was sometimes Jason's ghost.

Thalia could see it, although she never really spoke.

Only Jason and Pipes. A little romance.

Another grey streak ran down my cheek. Romance. I instantly thought of Percy. What was he doing now?

Oh gods. Suitors. Doubtless Athena was already planning hundreds of suitors. I was married! I couldn't start courting men! Not that I wanted too, anyway. We kids of Athena usually only find love once.

That was Percy.

So no way was some stuck up man checking out my legs any more.

I really hoped my friends had cracked the code,

Only now did I realize I said 'donuts'.

Crap.

* * *

**A/N Go Annie! Do any of the characters here seem OOC to you? Hope not.**

**And here's a random question: how do you pronounce Nico? I say it nick-o. I'm probably wrong. Usually am. Just wondering.**


	6. Of Romeo and Juliet

**A/N I think I'm doing well with the 'updating' thing. I feel awesome. Like, really awesome. **

**And thanks to all my reviewers (I'd love to write your names down, but I'm on an iPad, and typing on an iPad is pretty hard), I seriously enjoy them ALL!**

**So yeah,there's nothing really else to say, except read on.**

**Basically.**

* * *

Percy

point of view

Nico, Hazel and Frank calculated that we should all be at Annabeth's bedroom window around eight or so. Piper was now giving herself a haircut with a sharp stone, all the threads snapping jaggedly, giving her the I-cut-my-hair-with-rocks-I-won't-hesitate-to-do-the-same-to-your-throat look. As well as that, her eyes kinda make you collapse. They're swirls or different colour, meshing and twinkling from one shade to the other.

We've all learnt, though. All except Leo. He still faints.

"We've got until sunset," Thalia said, facing us. She spoke seriously, as if she had planned it all out, but Hazel had just told her them anyway. "We nick Annie, run and move to Japan wear we change our names and shave off all our hair. Cool?"

Leo touched his brown locks. "If its okay with you, Miss Lightning, I kind of want to keep my hair. It makes me look drop-dead gorgeous. "

Piper snorted, and accidentally sliced through several strands. "Drop dead gorgeous, Valdez? What has gotten into you?"

Leo looked offended. "You really think that?"

But then he met Piper's gaze and fell over.

"Guys, seriously," I said. "We need to do this right, or I'm ending up back in a cell living on nothing but Hatty's gruel. Besides, she's my - "

"Wife, we know," Travis said. "And we need to leave round about now. So, dudes, whose ready to kick - "

After one glare from Piper, he shut up.

The brunette kleptomaniac smiled sweetly. "Now, whose ready to kick guard butt?"

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

I was furious. After pacing for twenty minutes in the grand hall, waiting for Athena's mark to get out on the balcony to say a long speech about "It's good to be home!"

The only problem? IIt WASN'T good to be home.

It wasn't wasn't wasn't.

So how the heck was I meant to say a speech I didn't even mean?

I was nervous. The dress suddenly felt to tight and I wanted more than anything for a tsunami to rise out of nowhere and destroy everyone. Me included. Why did I have to wear makeup? My head was itching, but every time I reached out to scratch it, the maid next to me would give me a dirty look.

I was sweating. I had insisted on not wearing shoes, partly because all of them had grown too small, and anyway, living for two years wearing no shoes was perfect practice for any princess.

Not that I was one anymore.

Athena beckoned me out and I padded nervously in front of the crowd of peasants. I could see Sally near the back, standing next to Tyson and Ella, looking nervous and sympathetic. Everyone else was looking excited that their long lost princess had finally come back.

But that was just it. I didn't come back. I was freaking dragged back.

"Um..." I started chewing my painted nails. The servant slapped my hand away and Athena hissed, "Princesses do not bite their nails!"

That was it. Suddenly, I didn't care anymore. I wasn't going to be a puppet no longer. No suitors, no tight dresses, no viciously brushed hair, no stupid shoes. I was not going to live like that anymore, because that wasn't me!

And what was better than to say that in front of the whole of Athens?

"I'm Annabeth Chase," I said, and I could see some of the village boys mutter, "Thank you, Captain Obvious." "As you all know, I've been missing for the last two years, and, to all your surprise except a few, I've been in a cave." There were several gasps. "Oh yeah, in a cave."

"But not by myself," I continued. "With several people. One of them being Nico di'Angelo."

Athena's ears went red.

"Another two being Connor and Travis Stoll."

Athena started pinking up.

"Another being Leo Valdez."

Steam literally started coming out of Athena's ears.

"Another being Thalia Grace."

The Queen started shaking.

"And another being Percy Jackson."

That was Athena's limit. I had heard Thalia's story so many times I knew it back to front, and knew that Athena still believed those hideous lies Thalia's mom had spread, so she officially hated her. Percy Jackson? That made her explode.

"You are living with THIEVES?" the Queen cried, still trying to remain dignified, but you could see her quivering with rage.

"Yes," I told her."Shocked?"

"Very," was Athena's dry reply.

"And that's not all," I said. The thought of what I was going to say next instantly brought me back to when I was seven, studying Romeo and Juliet with Mr Chiron in the castle.

_"Why do you think they got married so quickly, Annabeth?" Mr Chiron asked._

_"Because they loved each other?" Annabeth guessed._

_"Close." The old man's eyes twinkled. "Because their parents were enemies, their love was forbidden. If their parents found out, and they were just lovers, they could easily be separated. But they were married, and you weren't allowed to divorce in those days. They couldn't be torn apart."_

And that was precisely my case.

"I am married to him. Percy Jackson is my husband."

* * *

**A\N We were all expecting that, weren't we? So I put it out. Don't worry, Percy and everyone else will come next chapter.**

**Until then, ciao!**


	7. Of apologies and sorries

**A/N Bwahahahaha! I decided to be very evil. You know how I ended on such a cliffhanger? Well, since that was Annabeth's POV, I'm doing someone else's.**

**Who wasn't in the scene at that time.**

***evil laugh***

**You probably all hate me right now. But anyway.**

* * *

Piper

point of view

To say we were marching through the woods armed and ready with our weapons ready to snatch Annabeth back, all eager and determined, would be a complete and utter lie.

We were basically dragging ourselves, moaning and walking into trees, and throwing sticks and stones at the Stolls when they nicked our weapons. Percy was trailing after Thalia, mumbling something and hauling his sword along. Leo had the most energy, skipping around like a caffeinated squirrel, singing a Pirate song like an absolute loony and yelling, "SING WITH ME!" at the chorus, which we all knew. So we mumbled the words whilst he screeched them, scaring away nearly every living creature in sight.

I could see Thalia twitching and knew that it was taking every muscle in her body not to skewer him.

"Leo, please," Nico grumbled. "Just shut up for a few seconds and consider our ears."

"Your ears?" Leo stopped shriek – sorry, singing. "What? Are they telling you to ask me to do a quieter song? Because I can do that."

"What? NO!" Thalia shouted, but Leo had already launched into Rockabye Baby –which, for the record, was just as loud and tuneless as his Pirate one. He danced around squawking like a chicken.

Connor sneaked around and stole his tool belt. Leo noticed immediately, and stopped singing and started yelling, "WHO DARED TO STEAL JIMMY? WHO?"

"Jimmy?" Hazel asked, and then cracked up. "You named your tool belt Jimmy?"

Travis started rolling on the floor laughing. Connor threw Leo his tool belt and cackled. "Jimmy!"

"He's Arabella's cousin," Leo said, looking wounded.

We all looked clueless until Nico yelled in surprise and pointed at the Latino elf-looking person. "You took Arabella!" he shouted. "She was just about to get married!"

"Who is Arabella?" Frank asked, looking confused.

Nico looked sulky. "One of my rocks."

"Whoa, little cuz," Thalia said. "You are taking this way to far. You name your rocks, then you decide that one called Arabella is getting married, and then Leo's toolbelt who happens to be called Jimmy is her cousin?"

"Precisely, yes," said Nico. "Is that a problem, Miss – "

"Shh!" I pulled every down. "Quick! It's the castle!" then I peered closely. "Wait, is that Annabeth?"

"Where?" Percy's head bobbed up but I pushed it down. "She's doing a speech. Keep quiet."

Annabeth was standing on the balcony, looking very uncomfortable at the whole crowd in front of her. She started biting her nails, a habit she learnt from Thalia, and one of the maids slapped her hand away. I bristled.

Then she started speaking, and she started smirking as she did so. I saw Queen Athena grow redder and redder, and then Annabeth suddenly turned to her. "I married him," she said, and then turned and face the crowd. "Percy Jackson is my husband!"

I could practically see Percy's massive grin.

"WHAT?" Athena grew into a rage, and I could suddenly see Annabeth looking scared.

What was gonna happen?

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

I was scared. Athena looked mad enough to eat me. I started shaking. I turned and faced the crowd and saw that everyone was talking, except Sally and Tyson and Ella. Sally grinned.

Athena raised her hand as if to slap me.

She wouldn't, I thought. Not publicly, anyway.

Just when I thought she would, I heard a "STOP RIGHT THERE!" The entire village turned, Athena and I included, to see Thalia and Piper and Nico and Hazel and Connor and Travis and Frank and Leo. But then my eyes fell upon Percy, who looked completely exhausted but triumphant.

Athena started to redden with rage. "YOU DON'T TELL THE QUEEN WHAT TO DO!" she shrieked, and to prove her point she grabbed my wrist and struck my face.

There was a silence, and even my mother looked shocked and took a step backwards. I put my hand up. It really hurt, and I just looked at her. Wouldn't allow myself to cry. Just looked.

"Oh yeah, and you're meant to love her," Thalia snapped. "You just hit her!"

"You are a common thief, Thalia Grace," Athena raged. "And what happened to that baby of yours? Did you kill it when you finally realized your were wicked."

I felt like I had just been slapped again. No one, and I mean NO ONE did that to Thalia. She was one of my best friends, and all that tosh was an absolute lie.

"Thalia?" Connor whispered. "She's joking, right?"

But Thalia wouldn't speak. She just glared fully at the Queen, who looked mightily triumphant. I couldn't bear it.

I reached up for my skirt edge.

Percy's eyes widened. "No, Annie!"

I pulled out my dagger and held it at Athena's chest.

"Mom," I said, choking back tears. "Why?"  
I saw hurt flash through Athena's eyes, and suddenly I just couldn't do it. She was my mother, for goodness sake. She had brought me up and raised me, and may have publicly disowned me back at the church, but she hadn't done anything wrong. Not really.

I shook my head, tears running down my cheeks. Why was it so complicated?

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

* * *

**A/N That was a kinda sucky chapter, but I'm not complaining. I quite liked writing it, actually. So, anyway. Cheers.**


	8. Of superheroes and wings

**A/N I officially hate me. I haven't updated in centuries and I am freaking ANNOYED. As well as that, when I was typing a chapter for Mortals vs Demigods, the Y on my keyboard fell off.**

**Joy.**

**So now I have two letters missing, and it's making typing a lot harder. Thank god it wasn't E, because I would've already died and demolished the computer.**

**Anyway, seeing as I'm sucky at updating, I'm giving you a chapter twice the length it usually is.**

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

Although I had my blade pointed at Queen Athena's chest, I felt weak and wobbly inside. I didn't want my story to be some cliché one, like all the romance books I read in the library, where the villan goes down to his knees and begs for mercy and changes to good at the hero or heroine's feet.

But if I looked at it from Athena's point of view, all I saw was a woman who wanted to do the best for her daughter, by protecting from a group of murderous thieves and doing what all queens do: she needed to get me a husband, not because she wanted to do it, but because when she died, I _had_ to have one. It was a law. And she was scared because I just told her that I had married a thief.

She wasn't a villain, no matter what she snapped at me when I visited her after Luke Castellan's death.

I dropped my dagger and stumbled backwards.

"Mom..." I started, and then my mind went blank. I couldn't just say sorry. I had done terrible things – I had run away from her fancy dress ball, I had helped one of her prisoner's escape, I had killed my nearly-to-be-husband, I had ganged up with a group of thieves, I had taken away Hazel and Piper, and then I had just announced that I had married the greatest-known thief.

Sorry didn't just cover that.

"Mom..." I started again, but my vision blurred. Why was I crying? I didn't know now, and I really couldn't care. I collapsed and choked out my sobs that I was trying to keep in.

"My baby girl," my mother whispered, and for the first time in years she wrapped her arms around me and just hugged.

* * *

Thalia

point of view

I think the whole village was stunned into silence. I mean, I had worked in the castle for a bit and if Athena's dress so much as brushed against one of the servant's legs, she would change and throw the dress to the laundry maids, as if the idea of being a servant was cruel enough to make anyone turn to poison.

So hugging Annabeth? That was new.

But I suppose the poor girl had been shoved in a bathtub, scrubbed so fiercely nearly all her hair fell out, and then squeezed into a dress. Of course she wouldn't be infected with all sorts of bugs and Athena wouldn't have to worry about catching a disease only servants and people who lived in caves catch.

Percy was just sitting there, dumb-founded, his mouth so wide I could almost see down his throat.

When Annabeth and Athena broke apart, Annabeth was sobbing. She knuckled her eyes, but more tears kept running down her cheeks. Just falling.

"Excuse me," she gasped, and darted back inside the castle. From my position, I saw that she flung open the doorand ran down the stairs. She burst out when she reached ground level and barreled through the villagers, straight into Percy, where she flung her arms around him and sobbed.

Why was my life so messed up?

Athena came down, looking distastefully at the cobbled streets and muddy paths. She didn't walk out, for obvious reasons, but held her hands in front of her dress. Her black hair was loose and straight down her back, and she didn't look anything like Annabeth, until I met those eyes.

Those eyes that had accused me of having a child.

Those eyes that scolded me when I spilt her breakfast.

Those eyes that scarred me for life.

I tripped backwards.

"Annabeth," Athena said, though she looked disgusted at her daughter crying into the chest of Percy Jackson. "I don't suppose you'd like to bring your... acquaintances inside so we can sort this out?" She turned to a maid on her left. "Maudy, bring out some cake."

Annabeth looked up, startled, wiping her eyes.

"Excuse us, ma'am, but I don't think that would be – " I began, trying to get out of visiting the castle.

Nico elbowed me in the stomach. "No, we'd _love_ to come."

"Thalia, there is CAKE," Leo hissed. "CAKE! Imagine what that _tastes_ like!"

Annabeth saw my expression. "Mom, would it be okay if you let everyone in, and me and Thalia just talk outside?"

"They must be under guard if you aren't here," Athena said coldly.

"Why?"  
"They are still criminals. They are fortunate that I am not locking them up."

Annabeth had on her thoughtful face. I could tell what she was thinking. Athena had hated us – me, Nico, Travis, Connor, Leo and Percy – for as long as I could remember, and now she was inviting us in to have _cake_? Something was wrong. It didn't matter if we had guards or not, the chances of us actually _eating_ the cake were on a ratio or 1:9.

Annabeth nodded slowly, as if she didn't quite trust her, and as soon as Athena's back was turned she hitched up her dress to her thighs and was running towards the palace gardens, beckoning me to follow.

I ran after. Annabeth and I climbed over the gate, and the Princess grabbed a rock from the flowerbeds and began tearing the dress so it was easier to run in. I watched. After about ten minutes, she said, "Something about that didn't seem right."

"I know," I said. "Athena's never usually this nice. Especially to criminals. Hopefully she won't know that it's actually _the_ Piper McLean and _the_ Hazel Levesque."

"She already does," Annabeth said gloomily. "Thalia, I'm scared. Athena's known for her wisdom and battle strategies across the globe. She thinks the tiniest bug is an invitation for a war. A bunch of thieves? She's probably already plotting and scheming to throw them in the dungeons."

I felt queasy. "The dungeons?"

Annabeth saw my face. "Thals, I'm sorry. But the thing is, Athena would never let a thief so much as _touch_ the palace without them getting thrown in the dungeons. I've been down there just as much as you have. Think of it as 'Time Out'. You won't be able to survive. And I won't either. I won't even be allowed to say the word dungeon without getting shot. I'm... I'm terrified." She looked at me, and I saw hurt and pain flash through those grey eyes.

"I am too," I said. "But if she tries... I'll get Hazel to ninja kick her in the head again."

"Hazel and Piper will get hauled away before she can so much as lift her leg," Annabeth said, and I saw that a tear had slipped out her eye. She wiped it away furiously. "God, I'm crying again. Anyway. Piper and Hazel will probably get made up to look like princesses again and get shipped off to wherever Aphrodite and Madame Levesque are, where they will get tortured."

"And I suppose we'll get killed," I said. Then I hung my head. "Publicly."

"And I'll be forced to watch."

We sat for a bit.

Then I stood up. "C'mon, Wise Girl. If Athena is getting the shackles ready, I'm gonna go kick some Queen butt. You've got to help, cos me, against all Athena's bodyguards? I'll end up as fish bait."

Annabeth stood up too, and pulled a dagger from out of her dress. "Let's go."

"Wait, hold it." I stared at the dagger. "Wasn't it up on the balcony?"

Annabeth smirked. "Thalia Grace, I am the daughter of one of the smartest women in the country. It isn't hard to fall over and slip a dagger under your dress at the same time."

"Seriously, girl, you're gonna end up as a superhero next. Now let's move it before you sprout wings."

* * *

**A/N This chapter was fun, actually. I liked writing it. So. What did you guys think? Was the Annabeth/Athena bonding part a little too quick or what?**


	9. Of cake and scarecrows

**A/N You all must hate me. Honestly. I am the WORST. UPDATER. IN. THE. NATURAL. HISTORY. OF. UPDATING. **

**I am SO SO SO SO SO SORRY. Seriously. I am. I feel awful. Like, really awful. So awful I could make myself implode.**

**But that probably won't be the best idea.**

**Ahem.**

* * *

Leo

point of view

As soon as I walked into the castle, I instantly knew I should've gone with Thalia and Annabeth to the gardens, even if they were going to sit down and talk about girly stuff. The walls were spotless. The floor was spotless. Even the ceiling was spotless.

Altogether, everything was spotless except us.

I suddenly became very aware of my muddy pants and shirt. I glanced around and saw that Hazel's dress (even though she was a thief, she still insisted on wearing one, for some reason) was filthy and torn so it showed a great deal of her legs. I saw several servants and maids giving both her and Piper (who was wearing trousers) the evil eye.

I mean, I knew from Annabeth, Hazel and Piper that the kingdom was real strict about stuff – like it was rude to wear a dress above your ankles, and a complete disgrace for women to wear trousers and stuff like that. Hazel found that totally sexist, and I didn't blame her.

But also I felt uneasy. Queen Athena had always loathed thieves, no matter who they were, but now she was inviting the _most wanted thieves ever inside her home for cake._

Who would guess?

But now my excitement about the cake had gone down, I was feeling suspicious. Really. I looked around and saw Percy looking at a painting of the Royal Family. Queen Athena and King Frederick were there, as well as a blonde girl and boy. Annabeth and her brother, Malcolm, when they were about six or seven. Annabeth's hair was loose and falling around her shoulders, and even though I had always been secretly scared of the girl, she looked cute. She was wearing a purple dress and had a purple flower tucked behind her ear, and Athena _actually smiling_.

_That_ was something you didn't see every day.

"Now." Athena led us into the biggest, most fancy rooms I had ever seen. It was all gold and white and red, with the most comfortable seats and everything. If it was being rated, it would probably be a six-star room. "Would you take a seat?" Her voice had an edge to it that made it seem like a command, not a question.

Piper fidgeted. I knew she had a dagger up her pants, and sitting on it would not be pretty. Besides, if she suddenly took out her knife, we were destined to be hanged. I mean, I knew that there was a 99.9% chance that we were going to get thrown into prison, but then there was always that 0.1% chance that we weren't, right?

Frank's eyes went wide. "Oh, I'm sorry, Your Highness," he said. "But Piper has a problem with her legs, which means she can't properly bend them, and will not be able to sit down."

Athena arched a perfect eyebrow. "Oh really? I have known Piper McLean a lot longer than you, peasant" – she spat like the word, like it meant 'poo' – "and she was always able to sit down."

"She had an accident running," Percy said, at the same time as I said, "a tree fell on her legs."

We both frowned at each other, and then I said, "She had an accident running," at the same time Percy said, "a tree fell on her legs."

"What they mean," Piper explained quickly, "I was running, and then a tree fell on my legs."

Athena stood up, and suddenly I could feel her power radiating. "I am not an imbecile, Percy Jackson and Leo Valdez. I strongly suspect that Piper McLean has a weapon up her... trousers" – she looked disgusted – "and that she is trying to hide it's presence from me. But, McLean," she continued, bending so she was looking directly into Piper's multi-coloured eyes. "You cannot hide anything from me."

Oh really? She didn't know that I was the one who managed to throw a carrot at one of the castle windows.

She has suspicions, sure, but whatever.

Connor started backing away. "Uh, thanks for the cake – I mean, thanks for not giving us – I mean – uh – I – cake – um – uh – "

"Silence, _Stoll_," Athena spat. She turned to the guards. "Take them to the dungeons."

"Hey, hold on!" Percy yelled as a guard grabbed his arm. He lashed his legs and managed to get the guard where he didn't want to get hit, and the guy dropped him. Percy took out Riptide. "Back off."

"They won't listen!" I shouted as I brained one with my hammer. "They're like dummies! In both the stupidness and the home-made-ness."

And then the door smashed open and Thalia and Annabeth ran in.

"Annabeth?" Athena gasped.

"Sorry, Mom," Annabeth snarled, as she kicked a guard in the chest and smacked another in the face with a chair. "But you are not taking my friends."

I prayed she wouldn't mention 'or husband', because I knew Percy would just go all mushy and end up getting trampled to death by someone.

But then the Queen did something I never knew Queens could do. She snatched a sword from an unconscious guard and held it in her hand as if she had been swordfighting all her life. I didn't even know Queens could do that.

I was surprised she hadn't gotten a napkin and wiped the hilt.

"I am not letting you take away my daughter," she snapped to all of us, but giving Percy the extra evil eye. "You may have all befriended her, but she belongs here. As do you two." And two more guards (I didn't even know where they came from) grabbed Hazel and Piper.

"Let them go," snapped Nico, waving his black sword.

"You're stopping all my blood circulation!" Hazel squeaked, poking the guard's arm. "That's really dangerous, you know. My entire arm could fall off, and then you would be in serious in trouble."

"Take them upstairs," Athena growled, and even more guards surrounded us to stop us from bolting. Travis's eyes gleamed, and I knew he was planning how to smash down the walls.

"ANNABETH!" yelled Percy.

"Let me go!" Annabeth shrieked from up the stairs, performing a well-placed kick in the guard's chest. He crumpled. Piper whipped out the dagger from her pants and prised the guy's fingers off her shoulder, and Hazel bit his knuckles.

All of them leapt on the banister (which is something I would never imagine they would do) and knocked down a line of guards.

It was all going splendidly... until Athena yelled, "OCTAVIAN!"

And our dear friend Scarecrow-Guy appeared, with his arm still bandaged, holding a teddy bear and a sword and looking plain evil.

Oh mama.

* * *

**A/N You deserved that, guys. So. There it is.**


	10. Of cows and anger sessions

**A/N Left you on a slight cliffy, huh? BWAHAHAHA. Oh well. Octavian didn't die in KFC, and I figured our favourite augur would have to come in sooner or later.**

**So there he is.**

**And here's the chapter. Yay.**

* * *

Percy

point of view

I thought I knew scary. I and experienced loads of it – too much, actually – but nothing freaked me out more than to see the sandy-haired, pale-faced teddy-slaughterer. His eyes were full of evil and anger (which is understandable – Hazel round-house kicked him in the chest), and even though he still had one arm in a sling, he looked downright vicious.

I felt Annabeth stiffen next to me.

"Well, well, well," Octavian said evilly. "I see that you had the guts to come back. I suppose I'll have to kill you."

"Good to see you, too," Connor said cheerfully, though I saw his face whiten considerably. "And I'm not sure about you guys" – he turned to face us – "but I'm not one for the 'killing' idea. You?"

"Yeah," Thalia put in, her voice slightly squeaky. "I'd like to live a little bit more." I saw her eyes revolving around the castle walls, panic welling up in her electric-blue irises. She had finally cracked enough to tell us her story. We all knew it back-to-front now.

"Me too," Nico squeaked.

Octavian picked up a horn, which was hanging over his shoulder with a strip of leather and blew on it. In an instant, more guards (_more_?) filed in the room, surrounding us. But these weren't pathetic guards like the ones who had escorted us in. These ones were tough, muscular and big. They looked as though they ate crocodiles for breakfast and iron for dinner.

"Take them to the dungeons," Athena said, who was standing a bit further back.

"Mom!" Annabeth said desperately. "Please! No!"

Athena's eyes flickered in the candles. "Take my daughter to her bedroom. The rest can go to the dungeons. Including Miss McLean and Levesque."

"MOM!" Annabeth shouted as three guards grabbed her arms and hauled them upstairs. "PLEASE! LET THEM GO!"

"I will talk with you afterwards," Athena said crisply, though her eyes glittered She turned. "Take them. I can't bear them to be in my sight any longer."  
"ANNABETH!" I yelled.

"PERCY!" Annabeth cried.

The guard grabbed my head and forced it down. All of us were forced through the palace to the dungeons – and I had a feeling that we wouldn't be living like I had before. We would be shoved in the darkest, most dank prisons down there. It was just like before. And this time, we were all destined for hangings.

I felt horrible. And when I looked around and saw Hazel nearly in tears, Leo getting gagged since he had nearly taken off his captive's finger, Piper getting kicked and pushed, Frank getting prodded forward with spears, Thalia shouting and swearing hysterically, trying to fight her way out, the Stolls getting marched forward at sword point and Nico's hands getting bound, I suddenly realized that it was all my fault.

Oh my gods.

Annabeth

point of view

"What are you going to do with me?" I shouted at my mother. Getting physically thrown in my bedroom wasn't my ideal way of getting in, but it wasn't the guards I was mad at. Athena was _pushing my freaking buttons_ so hard that if I had my dagger, which had been taken off me, I would've run it through her.

Seriously.

"Calm down, young lady."

Did she just Young Lady me?

"Why?" I shouted, too cross and furious to cry. "My husband and all my closest friends have been thrown into the dungeons and are going to die soon and _you're_ telling me _I_ need to _calm down_? What kind of heartless woman _are_ you?"

"Annabeth," Athena said coolly, though I saw fire race through her eyes. "I'm just trying to do what's best."

"And you think _killing my husband_ is making that any better, you _cow_?"

I shouldn't have said that, no matter how mad I was. And even then, ruder things were running through my mind. I had roughly planned about four ways how to kill my mother. But Athena, however... yeah, she didn't take it too well.

"Annabeth Chase, I am trying to teach you how to live a good life of honestly and grace, and you repay me by running off with a thief! For goodness sake, girl, get your head together! You don't love him – it's just a silly fling."

"How would _you_ know?"

"Because a princess and a peasant were never meant to be together, you crazy girl! It's unheard of, and I will be a shameful mess if your husband is a thief!"

"I've already married him, Mom."

"I don't care! You are to get married to a respectable man who actually cares about you instead of just a peasant you met several months ago! You can't marry a man you just met!"

Time for the big shot. "If you didn't know, _Mother_, he was my best friend when I was a little girl, but had to leave for reasons. I love him, Mom, far more than you will ever get your head around! It's my life, I decide what I do with it, and I'm not your little puppet. I can do what I want!"

Athena's lips had gone thinner and thinner throughout, until they were just a line, and her eyes flared. "Fine. But you will never save your so-called _lover_." She stood up and marched out the room, slamming the door and locking it for good measure.

Great. I was a prisoner of my own room.

How was that even possible?

I picked up a brooch I had been given for my eleventh birthday and started chipping at the walls. I went through the paint – but then came to solid brick. It would take months to get out. I tried once, experimentally, but the brooch needle broke.

Brilliant.

I slumped against the wall, glaring at the door. The balcony was now fenced up and boarded in, so I couldn't get out that way. Then my bedroom window had bars across it. UUUUUUGGGGGHHHH.

Well. If I was a prisoner, I supposed I had to live like one.

Which meant I wasn't going to have a single drop of food. I didn't belong here. I wasn't going to eat anything from here.

Ha. That would show her.

* * *

**A/N Eh. That was okay-ish. Oh well. Can't be helped. Review please!**


	11. Of deaths and lullabies

**A/N Yay! Anyways, it's a new chapter and I'm so happy and blah blah blah and so on. So. Yeah. New chapter. Yay.**

**Yeah, I should probably start writing now. Heh heh heh. Yeah. Start. Yeah *sides away awkwardly***

* * *

Thalia POV

It's like living my past all over again. I was in the dungeons – again. And I was to be sentenced to death; along with the only people I had only cared for and had only been cared for by. Although I had always insulted Nico and Percy, and ditto them me, they were the only family I loved. Jason was dead. Mom was somewhere, although I certainly didn't want to see her.

(Well, maybe to strangle her, yes, but to give her a Mother's Day card? Nope.)

Zeus could be dead, and I had no other cousins I knew of. Besides, blue, green and black were the only colours the flowers weren't.

UUUUUGGGGG.

Why was my life so messed up?

And, according to some guards I had eavesdropped on, Annabeth had been locked in her room, so _her_ help was out the question.

"_One, two, three, four, five_," Leo mumbled, tapping his spanner against the floor in his cell, "_once I caught a fish alive; six, seven, eight, nine, ten, then I let it go again_."

Hazel cracked a tiny smile. "_Why did you let it go_?"

The corners of Percy's mouth twitched upwards. "_Because it bit my finger so_."

Leo tapped his spanner to every syllable. "_Which finger did it bite_?"

I sighed and rested my forehead against the bars. "_This little finger on my right_."

Piper turned her back to the bars and tilted her head backwards. "I can't believe it. We... we were meant to have a happy ending. We never have happy endings. Why can't we just live in peace? Without... without anyone bothering us." She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down at her bare feet. "It's not like we have much family. My Mom could be anywhere, and she's probably forgotten about me already." I heard her sniff. "She's got hundreds of daughters. I'm just a little brunette delinquent, better off _dead_." She started sobbing.

Hazel reached through the bars and managed to rub her shoulder. "Hey, Pipes."

Piper looked at her, her kaleidoscope eyes massive and shining with tears. "I – I don't want to die."

I looked at the grim walls, and suddenly realized how cruel the punishments were. Death was extreme. Athena didn't know how badly she was affecting people. They might just be people to her, but they had lives. They had parents, whether dead or alive. They might've had siblings. They might've been married, or engaged, and they might've had children.

And by hanging that one person, their children would be motherless or fatherless. By hanging that one person, their parents would be heartbroken. By hanging that one person, their friends or spouses would be widows or widowers. By hanging that one person, Athena would ruin lives.

Frank had his mother Miss Emily, the baker who trained him up personally to be a soldier. Piper had Aphrodite. Hazel had Madame Levesque. Percy had Sally and Tyson. Connor, Travis, Leo, Nico and I had no one, but were so close to Sally we could've been her children. Athena didn't know how much pain and suffering she was causing.

Percy started very softly singing – I recognized it as the lullaby his mother used to sing Percy, and then Tyson. Nico, Percy and I would sit on the floor, whilst Sally rocked baby Tyson in her arms. Percy couldn't sing, but it sounded like Sally.

_"__Somewhere out there,_

_Beneath the pale moonlight,_

_Someone's thinking of me,_

_And loving me tonight."_

I wiped my eyes and joined in quietly, not looking at anyone or anything but the wall opposite the door.

We quietly sang the same thing over and over again, still very soft and not doing anything else. Even Leo was doing anything hyper, which was an achievement. Piper kept sobbing, but almost silently now. I closed my eyes.

* * *

Nico POV

I knew the song. It was Sally's. And we all needed it. I saw Thalia close her eyes, and several tears slipped down from under her charcoal lashes. Hazel was rocking herself, mumbling the words and soaking the front of her dress. Frank was leaning against the wall, not doing anything. Connor was just mumbling to himself, Travis was muttering the words with his eyes closed, and Percy was curled up against the wall.

I was, for the first time in my life, terrified.

I was going to die. And it wasn't going to be to like one of the stories Annabeth told us, where the hero saved everyone at just the nick of time. My miserably life was going to end in a week or so, and there was no way escaping it.

I knew we all had to die at some point. Eventually, everyone in the world who was living now would be gone, and no one would know him or her. Only famous people got remembered. Others just were born and died. I wanted to make a mark on the world, to be remembered by. I knew Annabeth would remember us. But she would die at some point.

And we would all be gone.

I had never cried before. I had always built walls, to stop any bad thing coming to me. I had hardened my life and vowed myself to never cry. But I couldn't help it.

My life was going to end. Publicly. And we all couldn't avoid it.

"It's not fair," Thalia whispered. She opened her eyes, and more tears spilled down her freckly cheeks – but her eyes were angry. She sat up, and then said louder, "It's not fair." Then louder, until she was shouting. "YOU HEAR THAT, ATHENA? IT'S NOT BLOODY FAIR!"

She started sobbing again, one of the only times I had ever seen her cry. "It's not fair. That flipping queen doesn't even give a flying duck if she ruins people's lives by killing their children or husband or wife or parents. Not a single ounce of care. Just because her family is safe, with King Frederick and Malcolm and Annabeth and Bobby and Matthew and herself all alive, she finds is bloody fair to kill everyone. You think we _wanted_ to be thieves?" Her body was shaking with emotion, and she started shouting, her voice breaking with sobs. "You think we wanted to do all this? Well you know what? WE DON'T! We NEVER WANTED TO HAVE THIS LIFE!" She hiccupped. "We don't want everything an everyone ripped from us! You saw what she was like when Annabeth left!" She faced us, her eyes glowing with fury. "She was bloody _panicking_ like a fricking headless chicken."

"What about US? Are we just pathetic people who don't have lives? Well, you know what? WE DO! WE DO WE DO WE DO HAVE BLOODY LIVES THAT WE WANT TO LIVE!" Her sobbing grew even angrier. "And she thinks she can just... just TAKE it away from us!" she shook her head, and sat down heavily. Her breaths became labored, and her next words came quietly.

"I don't want to die."

* * *

**A/N Well, heh, a bit of dramatic stuff going on. A bit of angst, you know, pain and stuff. So. There it is. Like?**


	12. Of right-hand men and shocks

**A/N I'VE GOT AN UPDATE! WOOO! I know you probably aren't ecstatic about that, seeing as I haven't updated in years, but it feels good to write something that isn't MVD-related. **

**BTW, thanks for all the lovely reviews. Could we get to, like, 90, please? Thanks :)**

**So. Here it is. And I've brought back HATTY again! Yay!**

* * *

Hatty

point of view

I've been growing worried about Princess Annabeth.

She wasn't eating. Chef Hedge and I made her meals, which were passed through her door, but every one came back untouched. I knew that she didn't want to come back, and that she was perfectly fine living her own life, and I respected that – not every girl wanted to be shoved into a dress and have her hair perfectly fixed so not a strand was out of place. Mellie, one of the cooks, was becoming anxious too, and visited Annabeth as much as she could with small little snacks.

Annabeth would only drink her water. No food was eaten. And I knew that she was starving herself.

Even Athena began to pace, muttering furiously. She knew something was up.

I did, too. And I knew what. I had done so before when I was little. Annabeth knew she didn't belong here, so she wouldn't eat any of the palace food – also, she was worried about Percy.

She should've, too. Every time I went down, I would see the thieves nearly in tears, rocking themselves backwards and forwards, as if in a trance. Leo, the boy with the curly hair has nearly gnawed his fingernails down to his knuckles. It's atrocious how Queen Athena just keeps them in there.

I wished there was something I could do.

* * *

Percy

point of view

It wasn't just the food that irritated me.

It was the fact that the guard seemed to know our every escape plan, good or bad.

Thalia tried to pick the lock with our food spoons. They came back with the edges sanded down into useless blunt lumps.

Leo tried to invent an exploding helicopter that busted us out. He woke up the next morning with his tool belt on the other side of the bars.

Connor and Travis tried throwing themselves at the windows to break open the bars. They sent in a carpenter to board them up.

Nico tried blackmailing the guard. He got gagged and his hands bound.

I tried attacking the walls with Riptide. It got taken away from me and thrown into a chest under a lock and key.

We did everything we could, but Athena must've been under everything, because they took away all our weapons and everything we could use to bust out. They watched us whilst we ate and then took our bowls and spoons away immediately, seeing as some people had gotten out by chipping the walls with their cutlery.

In the end, we figured that we could only get out with the keys. Which were always hanging from the guard's belt buckles, so we were screwed.

We were going to die – literally.

We weren't as depressed as before, seeing as Nico and Hazel tried to reassure us about death, and how it wasn't so bad – so I decided that I didn't care if I was dead or alive.

_Yes you do._

And then I also classified myself as crazy. There was just this annoying little chirping voice in my head that seemed to yell at me whenever I said something – like, _You may be fooling anyone, but I know that you are lying, Jackson, _if I was trying to reassure someone about something, and, _What a load of crap_, if I was trying to tell myself it would be okay.

Trust me, it was freaking irritating.

"So," Leo said, rocking himself backwards and forwards with a pondering look on his face. "If you could be anything you wanted to, what would you be?"

Hazel rubbed her cheek with her grubby hand, smudging mud over her face. "Dunno."

"I'd be a person who works with machines," Leo said, puffing out his chest proudly. "Frank? Would you still serve Ms I-need-a-chainsaw-up-my-butt Athena as a soldier?"

Frank shook his head. "Nah. I'll change my identity, shave my hair, run off to Italy and start a bakery." When we all gave him weird looks, he put up his hands in protest. "Hey!"  
Nico studied his hands. "Someone who gets to order people around. Like Dad."

"Who was your dad?" Hazel asked.

"Hades." Nico rubbed his arms. "You know, the dude who could be dead or alive whose brothers are Poseidon and Zeus? I think they're Greek. Anyway, apparently he bosses people around loads. I'd love to do that. Then I'll order an attack on Athens and ask to take Athena as prisoner and sees how she likes it."

"Hades?" Hazel's golden eyes widened. "Is – does he have another name? Like, Pluto?"

Nico looked confused. "Yeah?"

Hazel's eyes went so wide it was surprising they hadn't popped out her skull. "He's – Pluto's my dad! Which makes you – you're my brother!" Tears started rolling down her cheeks. "Oh my gods, I have a brother!"

Connor looked bemused, as if an elephant had crashed through the ceiling. "Well, that's something."

Travis nodded. "Correct, my brother."

They probably would've high-fived if they had been able to get that close.

Thalia turned away from Hazel and Nico, who were both staring at each other like weirdos. "Yeah, that would be fun. I'd be like Zeus, because Zeus has a higher rank than both Hades _and_ Poseidon, so I'd get to boss Nico and Perce around. Percy?"

I shook my head. "Running a country would seem like a bit of a nightmare."

Thalia looked offended. "_You_ aren't running the country, Kelp Head, I am. You and Nico are kinda like right-hand men."

Nico had finally snapped out his trance, although he was touching Hazel's fingers through the bars, like in a brother-sister way, not like how Annabeth and I did. Otherwise Frank would be getting _jeeeeeaaaaallllloooouuuuus_. "I'm not a right-hand man, Thals! I'll be like Hades. I'm higher than you."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Can I just remind that he was named after the god of the skies? And who was yours? Oh yeah, I forgot. _God of the Underworld_!"

"I get to interview dead people," Nico sniffed, still miffed about the 'right-hand man' comment. "Like the woman who got hanged for accidentally giving some guy food poisoning. I could smack her with a broomstick for all eternity."

I waved my hand. "Bor-ing! Who wants to own the sky or the dead, seriously? I'll be able to send tsunamis everywhere, and make sure it dunks straight over Athens. And make sure Annabeth gets out safely," I added quickly. And then I thought about it. "And... get Jason back. You know."

Everyone went quiet for a bit.

Then Hazel looked up. "Wait, so Percy and Thalia are my cousins?"

Thalia smiled. "Awesome. I'm not the only girl."

Travis nodded appreciatively. "I'll be there at Thalia/Percy/Nico. Make sure I get a cool bed. And that Athena gets hung, drawn and quartered. You know, like, publicly. So I can watch."

Piper squirmed. "That's gross."

"Exactly," Travis said.

She rolled her eyes. "If I was to change something, I'd swap around the family tree so Aphrodite ain't my mom anymore. And then I'll find my dad. And go back to the Cherokees, my family, you know? And get one of those feathered spears that the soldiers nowadays use for hunting, and then I'll get some Cherokee Indians to go and attack Athena's bedroom window."

"And you call _me_ gross?"

"SILENCE!" A guard marched past and banged his sword on the bars, and we all respectively shut up.

_Nosey old idiot._

We didn't get another chance to talk, since the guard was always patrolling the dungeons. I wouldn't normally have been scared and just talked anyway, but he had his sword drawn. And to be honest, I'd like to be hung with all my limbs.

In the end, he sat down, holding a flaming stick to keep himself awake. He wouldn't fall asleep, so I gave up and curled up.

CLANG!

I sat up too see the guard lying face-first on the floor, with a dent in the back of his helmet. I looked up, shocked, half-expecting to see Hatty the cook.

Thalia screamed.

Because standing with a grin on his face was a familiar friend.

"You look stuck," Jason Grace said, smiling and holding up the keys. "Need any help?"

* * *

**A/N OOOOOHHHHHHH WHAT IS JASON DOING HE'S MEAN TO BE DEAD is probably what you're thinking.**

**Well. Stay tuned and all will be revealed. :)**

**(That sounds like a corny TV show).**


	13. Of food and hairpins

**A/N It was hilarious reading all those reviews, to be honest.**

**(And whilst you're reading this you're just thinking, ****_die, Robyn, die_****).**

**I know I kept you on tenterhooks! But I felt really bad about killing off Jason. So. **

**And, here's to all my hilarious reviewers: **Books RockGirl**, **SoulHorse**, **HoOisawesome** (man, ****_this_**** girl's awesome), **Amaira Rai** (so's this one :)) **SetFireToTheRainbow** (who has been reviewing ever since the start of KFC) **SeaTurtle13, Fruitqueen** (I cracked up at the review), ** -M.M.E** (thanks for liking the story), **PercyJacksonFanGurl** and **hungergamesfangirl100** (you're awesome, dude).**

**THANK YOU ALL FOR THOSE AMAZINGLY FUNNY REVIEWS! Man, your reactions were priceless.**

**So, here you go :)**

* * *

Thaila

point of view

I'd died. I'd just died. I'd just died and gone to Heaven (probably Hell) to be never seen again.

I mean, there was _no way_ that my _baby brother_ was standing in front of our cells, _grinning_ as if he'd just _murdered Athena_ and _holding the keys_.

No. Way. In. Natural. Science. Or. Philosophy.

It was _impossible_.

"I'm hallucinating," I mumbled, rocking myself backwards and forwards. "I'm having after-death hallucinations that I'm still alive and that Jason Grace is standing in front of me holding some keys and looking as though he had just won a battle no way no way no way impossible I'm insane insane insane stupid stupid stupid just making things up there's no Jason insane insane insane after-death halluciations – " I opened my tightly shut eyes.

Jason was still standing there, looking slightly weirded out.

"I'm not imagining things, am I?" I asked weakly.

Jason furrowed his brow, whilst Frank from the cell behind him and opposite me shook his head slowly, as if still in a daze.

_I_ certainly was.

"That's – but – that's impossible!" I choked out.

"I've died," Nico muttered.

Percy knelt against the bars, his eyes wide. "Jason? Jason, is that you? Are you seriously alive? I mean, like, _seriously really_ alive?"

"You're not dead," I whispered.

"_How_?" Piper said. I turned and saw that she had a stray tear down her cheek, but she furiously wiped it away, as if she was infuriated by the idea that it had let itself out her eye. "I mean, I saw you die and – buried – Octavian – _how_?"

Jason seemed to have a weird impression on us. We were barely capable of making out full sentences.

"How are you even alive?" Connor asked. Then his eyes went wide. "HE'S A GHOST!" and the kid let out the girliest scream I had ever heard out of any human being, let alone a boy.

I would've slapped him if I a) hadn't been in such shock and b) could've reached him through the bars.

Hazel seemed to be the only one who could form an actual sentence. "Jason, what happened?" she asked. "We all saw you die. We all buried you. What is going on?"

Jason sighed, and rubbed his head with his hand. "I – I don't know," he said miserably. "There was just so much pain and it hurt so bad, and then everything – well, everything went dark. Then it seemed like ages later that I felt someone telling me something."

"What?" Nico asked. "Who? Where?"

Jason bit his lip. "I don't know."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "That helps."

Jason held up his hands in protest. "Look, I'm sorry! I don't even know what happened! I'm pretty scared too! I'm scared witless. I don't even know what I was told, but I found myself coming here. So, do you want to be rescued or not?"

"Unlock the door then, knight in shining armour," Leo said, smirking and waggling his eyebrows. "Save us damsels in distress to rescue yet _another_ damsel in distress."

I smiled. "Let's go find her."

* * *

Percy

point of view

It was easy finding Annabeth, to be honest. No other room in the castle would have a stone table shoved against the door, and several smashing noises coming from the other side.

"Oh, mama." Leo rubbed his hands excitedly. "Uncle Leo's gonna bust some ninja moves and get this table outta the way."

He tried. It didn't work.

We all had to push at it, heaving and gasping, until we had rolled the freaking thing away. Travis slid to the floor. "_Man_."

Frank shrugged. "That was no sweat."

"Easy for you to say," Travis gasped. "You have muscles. I'm just all weak and puny and useless like some kind of living string bean. Still," he added, "I'm always hotter than you." He wiggled his eyebrows in Hazel's direction, who looked put-off and pressed into Frank's side.

"Who's there?" Annabeth voice came through the door. "If you're some kind of thief, I've got a knife!"

"I'm a thief!" Leo shouted unnecessarily.

Piper stamped on his foot. "Shut up," she hissed. "We don't need the entire world knowing. What if we get caught again?"

"Easy," Jason said. "I'll say that I caught you lot escaping and am marching you back to the dungeons."

Jason had changed since he had, uh, died. His hair had grown shaggier, not as well cut. He was nicer, too, and although he kept on looking in Thalia's direction every now and then, he seemed okay. Especially to Piper, who's waist he had his arm around.

"Annabeth!" I whispered loudly through the door. "It's me, Percy!"

"Percy?" Annabeth sounded so happy and so relieved that she sounded as though she was going to faint. Then she cleared her throat. "I mean, get me out of here. Now."

"'scuse me," Connor said, pushing forward. He pulled out a sprig of wire from his pocket and shoved it inside the lock, twisting it, and the door sprung open.

Although the girl standing there looked very different to the Annabeth Chase I loved and knew.

Her hair had straggling down by her waist in matted curls, and she was so thin she looked anorexic. Her dress hung off her, and her eyes seemed extremely big compared to her pale face. Her ankles and wrists seemed to just be skin and bones.

"Annabeth?" I whispered.

"ANNABETH!" Hazel pushed past Frank and the Stolls and Leo and Nico and launched herself at her, nearly knocking her over. Then she pulled back and grabbed your shoulders. "You look terrible!"

Piper rolled her eyes.

"You look awful, kid," Thalia said, pulling a face. She took Annabeth's arm and held it up. "What have you been doing, Annie? Starving yourself?"

Annabeth didn't reply, but then looked up at Jason. Her mouth formed and O and she was about to speak when she shook her head, pointed at him and shrugged. Piper smirked.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

S'pose it was a girl thing.

"I didn't eat," she said quietly.

"Annabeth, seriously?" Thalia said. She poked Annabeth's stomach, where I could see the rib bones sticking out. "We need to fatten you up, kid. You're like a human skeleton. Wait." She wheeled around and looked at Annabeth straight in the eye. "Did Athena starve you?"

"No." Annabeth shook her head, more confident now. "I didn't eat. I certainly don't belong here, so I'm not eating any of the food here."

"Shouldn't you be, like, dead by now?" Frank asked, and I noticed he snuck a look a look at Jason when he said, 'dead'.

Jason stiffened voluntarily.

"I had water," Annabeth said. "Only water. No food."

I studied her. Her appearance may have been much slimmer and skinnier than the last I saw of her, she was still my Annabeth. She still held her head up in the same way. She still had the poise of a fighter. She still had her grey eyes.

And, to be honest, that was enough for me.

My hand reached up and ruffled her hair. As bedraggled as it might look, it was still all soft and curly like it usually was.

Annabeth grinned and ducked. "Get off, Perce." But she reached out and took my hand.

Leo twirled a spanner in his fingers and smirked. "Let's break out of a castle."

* * *

**A/N I had to bring back Jason. I felt really bad for killing him off. So there it is, and review please! Maybe we can get to 100! (hint, hint)**


	14. Of secret tunnels and flaming shoes

**A/N I currently have a new favourite song, which I'm listening to over and over on Spotify – it's **Break Your Heart** by **Jenette McCurdy**. She's an awesome person, **McCurdy** is. I think she played **Sam** on **iCarly** too.**

**Anywho. I just had to say that.**

**Now *clears throat***

**One hundred and nine reviews? THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. Who knew? I'm so happy. **

**Maybe at one point in time of Thieves and Flashforwards we might even make it to 200! *gasp***

**Okay, now I'm going to start doing some answer-y and reply-y review thingys at the bottom of every chapter, so if you got a question I'll try and answer it. Or I'll just say some stuff to a review, like 'thanks!' or something bizarre like that. Cool?**

**(That was probably one of the weirdest A/Ns I've ever done)**

* * *

Annabeth

point of view

It was good being out my bedroom.

I had read and reread all the books I could so that I nearly memorized them, smashed every glass or porcelain or smashable item and yelled everything I felt like yelling at my chair **(A/N Mind you, I've talked to a chair. It helps with 'stress relief', even though the chair doesn't really do anything apart from sitting there)**.

Most of them were unflattering comments towards Mom. Some were about how life wasn't fair. Some were about how I just wanted to die.

So it felt good to be walking around halls that were longer than the length of my bedroom. Images started flashing as all of us stalked down the passageways – a translucent five-year-old me ran down in front of me, holding the hand of an older boy – my brother. Then an older girl with blonde curly hair and grey eyes came down, her nose in her book, and bumped into a servant with electric blue eyes and black hair. She lifted her head and a look of surprise came across her face as she realized that there was something familiar about her. Then another – an eighteen-year-old girl was herded down by guards, sobbing and yelling abuse at the queen.

They were all me.

I couldn't believe that this – the place that had been my home for eighteen years – was the exact building I was escaping out.

I shook my head. I couldn't have these thoughts now.

"So, Annie," Connor said. "Know any secret passages that we can bust out of before we bring in the exploding flour sacks?"

Hazel shook her head. "Connor, we've tried. Well, Annabeth and me. Piper was scared that she was going to get in trouble for sneaking around the castle. We looked everywhere – we cleared all the books in the library to see if there were any doors, we banged on basically every wall and woke up every person sleeping in there, and we managed to trick loads of people into telling us if there were any – but they all said no."

Thalia took a deep breath. "I know one. But it's risky."

"Where?" I asked.

"Athena's chamber."

* * *

I knew this was risky. In fact, I knew that this was going to get me beheaded.

Which was why I was doing it.

(Then Athena could get charged for murder of her own daughter and get hanged – jokes, jokes, jokes!)

No, the real reason was because they had all suffered so much for me. Piper, Hazel, Frank – they decided to get thrown into prison for me. Percy had done too much, Thalia too. Connor, Nico, Travis and Leo – they were determined to throw themselves off a cliff for me. I couldn't let them die.

Seriously, if anyone deserved death it would be _moi_.

(Besides, it would only make sense for me to go. If Percy, Thalia, Frank, Nico, Hazel, Piper, Leo, Connor or Travis came in, she'd make sure she had them beheaded before her very eyes. If Jason came in, she'd have a panic attack. If it were me, the worst thing that would happen would result in me getting locked in bedroom again, and that wasn't the end of the world).

But it turned out that Athena wasn't in her bedroom. I tiptoed in, and for the first time saw the cradle in the corner. Curiosity overtook me and I went over, nearly gasping when I saw two little boys sleeping, one with his thumb in his mouth. They both had soft blonde hair on their heads, and I didn't need to check their eyes to tell that they were grey.

_My brothers._

I gave a small gasp.

I probably would've stayed there for years if Thalia hadn't stage-whispered around the door, "Come on, Princess, move it."

I rolled my eyes, but then looked down at my brothers again. Before I could think, I leant down and kissed their cheeks. "Love you two," I whispered. "Maybe I'll visit you when you're old enough to understand."

Then I started searching the bedroom. I couldn't see any sort of trapdoor, but then my best friend's head popped around the door, her black bangs falling in her face. "It's – under the carpet," she said quietly, her face going green. I knew that this room and the dungeons were the worst places for her.

"Under the carpet?" I said incredulously. "Under the carpet?"

Thalia took a deep breath and waddled in. She took my dagger off me and cut a circle in the flooring, and the materiel came loose, underneath leading to a wooden trapdoor with brass hinges, like in the books I always read.

"How did you find this?" I said, sitting criss-cross-applesauce next to it.

Thalia kneeled next to me. "Cleaned her bedroom once. Accidentally swept under the loose bit. She must've found it, cos it's all sewn up now."

I reached out and pulled it open. I didn't really know what I was expecting, maybe just darkness or a ladder of sorts, but what came out instead was a horrible smell that seemed to turn my insides upside-down. I gagged. "Gods, it _stinks_!"

Thalia pulled a face like she was sucking lemons. "Now that's pretty gross."

Leo looked around the door. "Need any Leo moves to bust open anything?"

"Nope," I choked out. Leo looked confused at my expression, but his head disappeared around it. "You can come in."

Everyone trouped in, our muddy feet making footprints on the carpet, but I didn't care. Hazel looked as though she was going to vomit at the stench. "Pooh, who died?"

Nico retched. "It smells _awful_. Are you sure this is our only escape route? No windows or something?"

"They're too small," Piper said. She wrinkled up her nose. "Although that smells as though it contains loads of dead bodies."

She shouldn't've said that. I instantly felt sick. I didn't know what my mother did, but throwing people down here seemed like an Athena-thing to do. I didn't want to go down.

But then I heard voices. And footsteps. _Athena's_. And servants. And other people, like guests.

Jason's eyes widened. "Quick! Hide!" Hazel, Piper, Nico, Jason and Frank dived under the bed. Connor and Travis ducked behind the dressing table. Leo grabbed a long scarf and wrapped it around himself, then stood up, blending in with all the other Mary Mother of Jesus statues Athena had lined up against her wall. Thalia, Percy and I scrambled down the hole, slamming the trapdoor shut and blocking all the light. The smell seemed even worse, making me feel so sick my brain nearly dissolved into goo.

I heard Percy gag. "Man, what is down here?"

Thalia choked. "Something terrible."

We had landed on stone, judging by the feel and sound of our feet on the floor, but I didn't dare move. I couldn't see a thing. My eyes refused to adjust. I found Percy's hand and laced my fingers with his. I needed some comfort. As much as the smell made my eyes water, I would much rather prefer it to be a hundred times worse and to have light than none at all.

Thalia coughed. "We need light. Any fires?"

I didn't move, but I felt Percy's other arm grope around for something. "Uh, nothing but rocks. Flint, I think."

Thalia gave a little un-Thalia-like yip. "Flint makes fire, right? Hand them over, Kelp Head." There was a kerfuffle as the flint got passed over, and in the silence I heard scraping of rocks. Some sparks flew.

"Careful, Thals!" I hissed. "Even though I'm with my husband and best friend, I'd prefer to have all my clothes."

"I'm trying, just hold it." More sparks flew up, and more. "Anyone got any wood?"

I removed my shoe. "Would this help?"

Thalia didn't reply, just kept on rubbing them together. More sparks came up, but they didn't disappear. They hit my shoe, and it spluttered and a flame rose up. Thalia gave a little shriek of excitement and threw up the flint, doing a little dance. Percy squeezed my hand.

I held my shoe in one hand and put it in front of me, and now the passage hat lit up so I could see. But now I wished I kept it dark.

"Oh my gods," Percy whispered.

* * *

**A/N Cliffhanger, my dears! Yeah, I know I nearly killed you with the Jason one, but I really felt like shoving this at you. Aren't I mean?**

**Now... could we get to 115? Please?**


	15. Of coincidences, sneezes and corpses

**A/N Okey-dokey, new chapter time. Hopefully you lot like it, cos I was really stressing over this chapter. So feel grateful that I even started it. Jk :)**

**So, yeah. **

**Anywho, ladles and jellyspoons, hope you find this chapter 'satisfying' and that it'll help you with all your urgent NOOO ROBYN HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME UPDATE PLEASE OR ELSE I'LL TRACK YOU DOWN AND PELT YOU WITH MUFFINS reviews.**

**As hilarious as they are.**

**So, enjoy :)**

* * *

Piper

point of view

My heart was racing under my ribs, pounding and beating and eating away at my very sanity. I could feel Hazel next to me quivering. I didn't blame her. One false move, one sneeze, one cough, even one twitch would cost us our lives, and as much as my current life sucked, living with Aphrodite and my countless half-siblings was even worse.

Plus, I'd like to stay alive.

Athena led her guests into the room. There were two men and two women there – one of the men had smoothed back brown hair and the woman he had his arm around had shocking red hair. The other man had blond hair, and a woman with black hair was behind, looking curious. Two girls followed, about our age, one with red frizzy hair and the other with black hair down in a singular long brain down her back. They were talking.

"And this is my chamber," Athena said, waving her arm. "Down the corridor, you will find your quarters where you are to sleep and get dressed in. If you hear any signs of shouting of glass shattering, that is just my daughter. She has gone slightly crazy."

I bristled. Annabeth was one of the most levelheaded people I knew.

Jason reached his hand out and laced his finger with mine, as if to reassure me. Or to stop me from pulling out my dagger and impaling the Queen in the head with it.

But then I felt a tickle in my nose.

I moved my hand to try and stop myself. We had come so far and no way was I getting caught because Athena's feather mattress above was making me sneeze. _Stupid allergies_. I counted to ten and back down again, but even I knew that I could count up to six million and I would still sneeze.

So I did. My head went backwards, and I let out a tremendous a-hooo! noise.

"Who's there?" Athena's voice rang out. "Who sneezed?"

I lay dead still, whilst Hazel found my other hand and squeezed it, her bitten fingernails digging into my palm. _Stay quiet_, I thought. _Stay. Dead. Quiet._

"Somebody sneezed." Athena's voice was ice cold. "It wasn't me. It was somebody else in this room. And I think I know who." I could almost feel her cold smirk. "Piper McLean, come out from under the bed."

I didn't move.

"Piper McLean," Athena said, more forcefully. "Come out from under the bed now." When I didn't move, I saw her turn to the guards on either side of her. "Search the room. Where there's Piper McLean, there's Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace, and where there's the Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace there is the whole gang. Do not stop until you have found them all."

* * *

Percy

point of view

My eyes couldn't process what they were seeing. My eyeballs were lying. No way could there possibly be what seemed one hundred corpses scattered over the floor.

And there could not be an old man, withered and wrinkled by age, standing by the wall, his grey eyes narrowed with fierceness and contempt. Annabeth had grey eyes, and they were beautiful grey eyes, but these ones seemed to eat into you, biting at your soul. All you could see of them was a flash of steely silver between his scrunched-up eyelids.

Annabeth was shivering, her hand squeezing mine so tight it went purple. I wasn't complaining. The whole thing had such a creepy air about it made me want to feel as much warmth as possible.

We had dropped into a tunnel, a low tunnel with stone mossy walls and floors and ceiling, going straight in both directions as far as I could see. The floor was littered with bloody corpses, their skin sickly green, starting from a little pinprick in mid-arm, and fading outwards. There was a desk there, the tabletop covered in vials of bright colours, some polka-dotted, others bright purple, and some with little floating bits. A candle burned weakly inside a lantern, and from my position I could just make out a **Δ** embedded in the wall next to the desk.

My eyes widened. I remembered seeing that inside my cell. It was the same triangle carved into the wall the same way, small traces of blood in the rim. I shivered.

"You finally made it." The man's voice was old and raspy, as if he had lived an extra unwonted century then normal. "I was wondering when you kids were coming down. Especially you, daughter of Athena." He lifted a shaking, gnarled finger and pointed at Annabeth.

Annabeth pressed into my chest, and I wrapped my arm around her.

I supposed Thalia would've made throwing up noises if she hadn't been so petrified. We all were. It was a mystery how I even managed to get my arm to move around my wife's shoulders.

None us made a move to talk.

Finally, Thalia managed to choke out without sounding too stupid, "What's going on here? Who are you? Where are we?"

The old man chuckled, sending shivers down my spine. "Shouldn't you know?"

Thalia shook her head, her eyes still wide with fear.

"How about you, daughter of Athena?" The old man turned to Annabeth. "You've read lots about this. You've read lots about me. You should know."

Annabeth's voice sounded as dry and rough as sandpaper. "The Labyrinth," she said quietly. Then her eyes widened. "But that's – that's impossible. You – you must – you can't be – "

The man chuckled again. "Oh yes, young lady. I am Daedalus, inventor and creator of the Labyrinth."

Annabeth shook her head, still in shock. "But – but the Labyrinth was made aeons ago – you can't – "

"What's he on about?" I whispered.

"You're supposed to be dead," she choked out, and then, if it was possible, her face went paler. "Jason – "

Thalia's face tightened. "Annabeth, what's this old wizened fool on about? Why – how is he connected to Jason? Who's Daedalus? What's the Labyrinth?"

"Why are there so many dead bodies?" I demanded. "You killed them, didn't you? How? Why are they green? How do you know Annabeth?"

"Percy." Annabeth looked more fragile then I had seen her in a long time. "Daedalus invented the Labyrinth because he tried to escape the castle, millions of years ago, when some distant grandmother ran the place. She was called Athena too. She died ages ago. But you're still alive." She turned to the inventor. "And so is Jason. That isn't just a coincidence."

"He can't stay alive that long," Thalia muttered. "It's unnatural and weird."

"What's going on?" I said.

Daedalus chuckled. "I shall explain."

"You'd better," Thalia growled. "I want to know what you're doing under my best friend's mother's castle, why you are still alive when you damn well shouldn't be, why there are so many dead bodies on the floor, and why they are green."

"Follow me," Daedalus said. "All we be revealed." He picked the lantern off the desk and hobbled down the stone pathway.

"I don't trust him," Thalia said in a low voice.

"He's strange," I said.

"Something's going on," Annabeth decided.

"Let's go," Thalia said.

* * *

**A/N I'm so so so so sorry. You probably all hate me. HA HA HA ME EVIL.**

**Anyway, just review your hilarious reviews and let me laugh at ****them :) jk.**

******Statement: This was all done in the font Arial.**

******Question: Can I get some feedback and reviews?**


End file.
